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April 28, 2008

Creating a Peace to Keep in Darfur

Ending the catastrophe in Darfur requires international protection for civilians, a peace agreement that resolves the underlying political issues, and accountability for human rights abuses. Complete humanitarian access must be assured.

To achieve any of these goals, there must be meaningful consequences for individuals who impede efforts at protection, peacemaking, and humanitarian access. The deployment of an international civilian protection force, authorized last July by the UN Security Council, is moving ahead fitfully in the face of constant obstruction by the Sudanese government (and gross inattention by the Security Council to the pressing needs of the mission). While full and effective deployment of that force is necessary to save lives, it ultimately will prove insufficient unless it is accompanied by a viable peace process. Unfortunately, the current peace process is in shambles.The ENOUGH Project and the Save Darfur Coalition created a joint report that outlines the urgent steps that must be taken to create a peace to keep in Darfur. The two groups identified these steps through field work, consultations with key actors, and experience with peace processes in Sudan and elsewhere. In particular, the joint report draws on the model used to negotiate the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the decades-long war in southern Sudan. [SOURCE]

To date, international actors, including the United States, China, France, and the United Nations, have sought more to manage the Darfur crisis piecemeal rather than solve it completely. Now is the time to appoint an empowered mediator and support that mediator with an international quartet of powers that have leverage and interests in Sudan.

The mediator must simultaneously protect humanitarian access, push for full and effective deployment of the UN-AU civilian protection force authorized last July, and vigorously pursue a viable peace process.

That peace process must address both the local and national issues that underlie the conflict, ensuring that resolution of the conflict in Darfur complements full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the conflict in southern Sudan and that provides a blueprint for the democratic transformation of the entire country.

The problems of Darfur cannot be solved without solving the problems of Sudan and vice-versa. The time has come, finally, to get it right in Sudan. The long-suffering Sudanese people deserve as much.

Do you have what it takes to become an activist on behalf of the Darfuri people? If so, then you are encouraged to download or read this Activist Brief on creating a peace in Darfur.

3 comments:

Well said but I hesitate when I hear "international civilian protection force", The UN is just as bad as individual nations when it comes to doing something about genocide. These are the same characters that sent peace keepers to Rawanda, we know the end result there. I agree though until you adress Sudan as a whole nothing will get done.

Mike - You may alread be doing so ... but, if not ... please join the Am I Not Human? campaign that takes place here in the blogosphere on the 27th of each month. You can learn more from the virtual campaign headquarters. OK?